Friday, December 30, 2011

Thank you everyone for your fabulous Christmas Creations in entered into our last challenge! They were all very festive and a it was fun to visit all your blogs!

Our Prize Winner has been randomly drawn from random.org, and was #24 ....Congratulations JOANN (SASSY RAGGEDY) ... what a fabulous Christmas Card!

Joann, please contact me (Pauline) at the yahoo email on the right, for details on how to claim you 3 Dearie Dolls images! Thank you so much Dearie Dolls, for sponsoring our Christmas challenge!And in no particular order, our Top 3 Winners are....

Swing on by, and collect your Top 3 badge from our left sidebar... congratulations, ladies!

* * * * * * * * * *

Phew... are you like me at like to have some downtime between Christmas and New Year? Still, I have to turn my hand to crafting, even when I’m exhausted.... so the challenge is an easy one this week. Show us any creation you’d like to share, because our theme is

ANYTHING GOES

Our sponsor this week, Daisy Doodles. You will find an incredible variety of images for every occasion at Daisy Doodles! The prize for our random winner this challenge is their choice of three (3) Daisy Doodles images!

Have a look at the variety of inspiration our design team has created for you, using a selection of Daisy Doodle images...

(For details of each creation, click on the DT names, to visit their blogs!)

We would love to see your Anything Goes creations this week! Please add your creations below... and should the linky system fail us, please leave a "CHALLENGE ENTRY" comment here on this post, with a link to your blog post....

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Hello, today I have a tutorial to share with you here at Card Crafter's Circle. It's about how to make some of your own buttons. If you're anything like me, I collect buttons and have tons of the "real thing". But just for fun I thought it would be nice to try to make some of my own buttons. Please come step into my crafty spot with me.

Seems a bit crowded, but that's ok, you'll all fit! Now to prepare.

You'll need some stamps if you're like me and drawing one is out of your league. I'm using some clear ones from Fiskars, but any small ones will do (Digi or rubber) . Mine aren't button stamps but we can tweek them a little. Then some ink if using rubber and a mounting block if they're clear. Some pieces of paper; I chose various colours and some patterned ones. A pair of scissors and a cutting tool if you have one (I'm going to use my Creative Memories one for the patterned paper.). I have a circle punch on my "love to have" list. But a pair of good scissors is great! And of course some dimentional adhesive like Chrystal Laquer. I'm using Diamond Glaze by Judikins. For safety, an extra piece of paper or newsprint is always a good idea!

Now that I've cut out some patterned circles and stamped a few "buttons" it's time to add the glaze. If you want distinct "holes" then you can add those with a marker prior to glazing. For those using punches and not scissors, you will need to punch them out prior to glazing them because with the glaze they won't fit in the puncher. Note: go slowly with the glaze to reduce bubbles. If you end up with some bubbles, just use a needle and pop them.

Here's a bit of a close up of some of the buttons with the glaze. It looks milky at first, but will dry nice and clear. Another note, with the precut circles/ punches you could add a bit of sticky tac under them to keep the paper from warping while the glaze is drying. Drying times will vary.

Once they are all dry, go ahead and cut them out, with the good ol' reliable scissors if you didn't precut/punch them. Pauline calls it fussy cutting, and I've a mind to agree with her there! Once they're all cut out it's time to add them to your creations! Here's what I've come up with.

I love baskets of buttons so I made my own. The basket I wove from some embossed paper and filled it with "buttons". Some I sewed and others I just adhered. Then I added some bling flourishes and sweet little butterflies. The butterfly wings are glittery but it doesn't really show in the photo. I added a bit of ribbon and a sentiment from Inkadinkado that I stamped right on the basket.

Here's a close-up of the delightful buttons. They're very easy to make and it's nice to be able to custom make them for select projects where no other buttons seem to work. Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. Have a marvelous day and enjoy your buttons!
Oh and not to forget the wonderful challenge we are having here this week. It's Christmas and there's still time to link up your creations!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Thank you everyone for your beautiful entries in our very first challenge! I was thrilled to see our entries in double figures, and that I was able to visit every entry... just a fabulous thing to do!

Our Prize Winner has been randomly drawn from random.org, and was #2 (I must find out how to do a screenshot or get the timestamp details of that widget!) .... Congratulations NANCY!

Please contact me (Pauline) at the yahoo email on the right, for details on how to claim your 7 Bugaboo images! Thank you so much, Bugaboo Stamps, for sponsoring our first challenge!

And in no particular order, our Top 3 Winners are

#8 Tracey

#8 Shellshearer

#13 Julie P

Swing on by, and collect your Top 3 badge from our left sidebar... congratulations, ladies!

* * * * * * * * * *

Have you finished all your Christmas cards? Perhaps you're making those last few gift tags? Or making a head start on next years cards (that's usually what I do after Christmas has passed, while I'm still in Christmas mode). This week our challenge is themed

CHRISTMAS

Our fabulous sponsor this week, Dearie Dolls, is very special to us at Card Crafter's Circle ... Mary Ellen, the wonderful owner/designer also created our header, logo and badges that adorn our blog. The prize for our random winner this challenge is their choice of three (3) Dearie Doll images!

Have a look at the fabulous Christmas inspiration our design team has created for you, using a selection of Dearie DollsChristmas images...

(For details of each creation, click on the DT names, to visit their blogs!)

We would love to see your Christmas creations for our challenge this week! Please add your creations below... and should the linky system fail us, please leave a "CHALLENGE ENTRY" comment here on this post, with a link to your blog post....

No matter what you celebrate at this time of year, may this be a time of peace and joy for you all. May you receive the bountiful blessings of your faith, and health, happiness and prosperity in the New Year!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Hi there, Grandma Bonnie here with a "quick" tutorial...idea really. Are you in a pinch for a "homemade" Christmas card. I've got an idea that might save the day?
Check out your left over Christmas cards from years past and see if they are usable. I always have a few cards left over and i thought the cards from this year would serve as a "special" card just by adding a digital image.
This is what i did:

1. I colored and scanned an image i did and printed it out multiple times for the amount of cards i needed to make.

2. Hand cut around your image leaving a bit of white outline.

3. Position it so it will "work" somewhere on your card. In this case, attach the image to the inside of the card so that it lines up with the front of the card.

4. You've got a unique card using a cut out digital image with minimal work...YaY!

5. You can also use the digital image on top of a note card and use it as a card or punch a hole at the top and use it as a tag.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Welcome to our first challenge at the Card Crafter's Circle! We are thrilled that today has finally come around (we've been ready for some time now!)

December is a time of many celebrations... seasonal, religious, cultural... there are so many things to celebrate! Then there are birthdays, weddings, anniversary, and births... so our challenge theme for you this week, is

CELEBRATIONS!

We are so excited to introduce our first sponsor.... Bugaboo Stamps! Our randomly drawn challenge winner will receive their choice of 7 Bugaboo images... what an awesome prize!

Our Design Team has created some fabulous creations to share with you, and to inspire you!

What fabulous creations! Thank you ladies for making our first challenge post so colourful and exciting!

I hope we've inspired you to create and join us in our challenge this week, a CELEBRATION of our first challenge ever! At the moment our sponsor, Bugaboo has a fantastic 50% off SALE .... so I hope you will avail yourself of a great bargain!

If the Linky collection below disappears or doesn't work, please leave a "CHALLENGE ENTRY" comment here, along with a link to your blog post....

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

We're going to have a bit of fun on Tuesdays..... if we have a tutorial or a fun technique to share, we will! It won't be a challenge, but just a sharing of information, help, and projects... eventually, we'll have a great list of things to do, and for reference.... which will be found on our sidebar, or another page..... a little library if you will!

I hope you enjoy our first tutorial, ably provided by our own Bonnie.... what a fantastic job! Thanks Bonnie!

I am using Word 2004..so some of you might have a different screen, but the concept should be the same.
To do this tutorial you will need at least 2 images and then need to be PNG images and not JPG images. I have chosen to use Bugaboo's images. A present found here and an elf found here.

Select both of these images and put them on your "screen". You will have 2 "pages" in word. The present will be on one page and the elf on the other page. Select one of the images as shown and your "format" toolbar should open, (if not you need to go into your "View" and select the "formatting palate" toolbar.) Whenever you select an image this toolbar will come up.

Now select "wrapping" and then click on the style, from that select "Behind" text. Do that for both images. Now both images will be on one page. You can move your images to where you want them. I have my elf sitting on top of the present.

Now for fun let's go one step further and add another present, but let's rotate it to the left. You will need to select the "Size, Rotation and ordering" at the top of your "formatting palate toolbar". In order for your formatting palate toolbar to show up you will need to select an image you want to work on. See that arrow rotating, select that and it will have a drop down window that will give you the choice of what direction you want to rotate your image. I chose left. (In some cases images are "locked" and you aren't allowed to rotate them...but these work. YAY.

Okay, but as you add any images...it will come to the front..how do you make them go behind your images already on the screen...? You will have to open the "wrapping" and "style" again and chose either "behind text or in front of text".. Play around and you will find it's fun to do this.
Want to learn one thing more? Let's add one more image and reduce the size.

Kind of cool huh? Now you can color in your images and make a card.

Any questions, i will try to answer them in the comments.
Thanks, Grandma Bonnie

The numbers generated by this widget come from RANDOM.ORG's true random number generator.

Follow by Email

Our Sponsorship

Our sponsors are very special to us! If you are a digi designer and able to sponsor at short notice (should it happen), or if you want to sponsor us in the future, we would love to hear from you. We would love to showcase and promote your designs for you. Please email Pauline (below) for details!

We are so proud that our blog artwork was personally designed by the original Dearie Doll herself, Mary Ellen Smith! Do pay Dearie Dolls a visit, you'll not be disappointed! Click the logo above for some joy!